
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
The story opens on a sweltering August night in Buenos Aires, when the city is lit by millions of festive lights celebrating the nation’s centennial. The bustling streets spill into a crowded cabaret where tango roars from the bandstand, champagne glitters, and the glittering elite mingle with restless outsiders. Beneath the glitter, a volatile gang of brash men—the patota—lurks, ready to turn music into confrontation at any provocation.
Amid the revelry, a sharply dressed stranger sits alone, his black suit a dark island in the sea of color. He watches a young woman surrounded by the noisy patota, his gaze alternating between her fragile composure and distant, unspoken thoughts. Haunted by a past he carries like a weight, he seems poised to become more than an indifferent observer, hinting at a dangerous entanglement that could upheave the night’s fevered rhythm.
Language
en
Duration
~7 hours (438K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Andrés V. Galia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
May 5, 2019
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1882–1962
A major voice in Argentine literature, he wrote novels and biographies that explored the country’s social tensions, moral debates, and national identity. His work helped bring the concerns of early-20th-century Argentina into sharp, readable focus.
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